


our love was red, the world was blue

by redolater



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Adventurer Fabian, Adventurer Zelda, Bisexual Riz Gukgak, Demisexual Riz Gukgak, Everyone Is Gay, I love this ship, Journalist Riz, Likely To Be Rife With Spoilers, Metal Ball!!, Multi, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Teacher Gorgug, Trans Male Character, angst war, glad that’s a tag, hopefully, it’s a little sad though, no beta we die like men, spoilers for s1 and s2, technically, trans riz gukgak
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:22:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24764584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redolater/pseuds/redolater
Summary: Riz’s mom always told him he might outgrow his high school friends. He just didn’t think it would all happen so suddenly.(title from Goodbye by The Altogether)
Relationships: Metal Ball, Ragh Barkrock/Zelda Donovan/Riz Gukgak/Fabian Aramais Seacaster/Gorgug Thistlespring, Riz Gukgak/Fabian Aramais Seacaster, Riz Gukgak/Gorgug Thistlespring, Riz Gukgak/Zelda Donovan, Zelda Donovan/Gorgug Thistlespring
Comments: 5
Kudos: 26





	our love was red, the world was blue

Four years at the Augefort Adventuring Academy nearly killed Riz Gukgak (several times. in many different ways) but despite the efforts of an evil vice-principal, the old partner of his father literally plaguing the world, heinous beasts from his own mind and god knows what else, he made it out alive. In Elmville he spent one last summer with his friends—the Bad Kids, the friends of the Bad Kids as well as the partners of the Bad Kids—and used most of his time considering the next step. Riz was, yes, skilled with a gun, and had become quite a powerful rogue in his time at Aguefort, but he had to face that he wasn’t interested in leading that sort of dangerous life. He opted, instead, to put the brain of his to better work. 

That same summer, he applied to a college a few miles out from Elmville and was graciously accepted. 

(Diversity aided Riz in his personal essay. He was a goblin, perhaps the only goblin who’d ever applied, plus he was trans, socially transitioned and starting on T in autumn. Not to mention the array of traumas he’d collected during his youth. This college practically snatched Riz up as soon as it could.)

So Riz went off to college. Elmville was near enough for him to pop over for birthdays and the holidays and to check up on his mother. The gaps between seeing his friends’ faces was always jarring; Fabian’s dreads always seemed so much longer, he didn’t remember when Fig’s tail appeared and Kristen was starting to form smile lines, even at the age of twenty. This surprise was always a point of conversation, since the feeling was mutual. Gorgug would point out and admire the stubble slowly coming in on Riz’s jaw in patches. Adaine, youthful as ever, always noticed just how much lower his voice had dropped. 

Four more years soared over Riz’s head like jets and suddenly Riz was renting an apartment in Bastion City. Suddenly Riz was employed as a journalist with the Bastion Herald, putting his degree to good use. Suddenly he was twenty-three and going in for top surgery. Suddenly. 

Suddenly it had been seven months since he’d been to Elmville. 

That occurred to him one evening when he was walking back to his apartment from work. It didn’t seem like seven months had passed since, what was it, Kristen’s birthday? Riz called them, though, that was good, right? When was the last time he’d texted any of the Bad Kids? Guilt poked at the pit of his stomach as he unlocked his apartment door. He turned his phone on, checked his phone logs, and in a flurry of shame he clicked out a couple of messages to his friends. Each were lame apologies laced in excuses and Riz knew it. He didn’t notice the tears building in his eyes until he lifted a hand to rub at them. 

He spent the rest of the evening chatting with five people he hadn’t seen in months, five people who might as well be different people already than the five he knew in high school. Kristen had opened a religious center with her wife, Tracker, their wedding nearing its second anniversary. Thankfully, Riz was able to attend. Adaine was gaining a political education at the same local university Gorgug had graduated with a degree in education, the same one Sklonda was taking law classes in. Fig was a musician by day as well as by night now. Fabian founded a new adventuring party, with notable member Zelda Donovan. Ragh was the new Aguefort coach, and Ayda the new Aguefort librarian. Already. The only person he saw “regularly” was his mother, who made visits every other month.

Riz felt worst about how he hadn’t seen Gorgug, Zelda and Fabian, somehow. Admittedly, he had something of a crush on those three, a crush that fed on the fading memories of dancing at senior prom and that last Elmville summer. Out driving late with Gorgug in his new van. Getting spun around by Zelda, stronger by far than she looked. Spending countless nights at Fabian’s house, talking about everything and nothing. As far as Riz knew, none of his feelings were reciprocated, but...sometimes he’d lock eyes with one of his aforementioned friends and he thought maybe, maybe that was love, or something. 

Riz promised himself that he’d stay in touch. He promised his old friends he’d stay in touch. He swore that he’d find the time in his schedule to go down to Elmville, to reconnect, to stay connected, but Riz’s endless, self-imposed workload always found a way to separate him from who most he cared for. Suddenly the seven months since he’d been to Elmville turned into a whole year. Suddenly that year became two years. Suddenly Riz only texted on birthdays, sometimes holidays. Suddenly he hadn’t been to Elmville in three years. 

Slowly the platonic and the maybe-romantic love faded from Riz’s heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe I’ll commit to this. Maybe I’ll...Maybelline? 
> 
> Thank you for reading!! Comments and kudos make my day. :)


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